1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a feed system, particularly for an automatic machine gun.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Automatic machine guns require rapid feeding of ammunition into the firing chambers. One of the more common type feeding devices includes a rotor placed behind the firing chambers. The rotor draws in a belt of ammunition as it rotates. Often the rotor rotates in an intermittent fashion such that during the stop mode a bolt lug will ram a round of ammunition into one firing chamber and another bolt lug will eject an empty or misfired cartridge from a second chamber. Such devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,834,272 issued to Patenaude et al on Sept. 10, 1974; U.S. Pat. No. 2,972,286 to Marquardt on Feb. 21, 1961; U.S. Pat. No. 2,889,749 to Janson on June 9, 1959; U.S. Pat. No. 3,760,683 to Seemann on Sept. 25, 1973, U.S. Pat. No. 3,733,960 to Ashley et al, on May 22, 1973; U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,356 to Tassie et al on Mar. 27, 1973; U.S. Pat. No. 3,868,884 to Rose et al on Mar. 4, 1975 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,069 to Stewart et al on June 26, 1973.
Some rotors have been devised to receive ammunition from a magazine one at a time while rotating in a single direction. Two such devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,618,452 issued to Smith et al on Nov. 9, 1971 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,976,770 issued to Fletcher on Mar. 28, 1961.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,667,147 issued to Goldin et al on June 6, 1972 discloses a rifle with a reciprocially moving breech block which receives both live and spent ammunition.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,977,856 issued to Fletcher on April 14, 1961 discloses a rotating sprocket in a multibarrel rifle which has three bores. Each bore receives both live ammunition and spent cases.